Recorded as Maltby, Malteby, Maultby and originally Maltebi, this is an English surname. It is of locational origin from any of the places called Maltby in Lincolnshire and in the North and West Ridings of Yorkshire. The place name from Lincolnshire first appears as Maltebi in the famous Domesday Book of 1086, and derives from pre 7th century Danish-Viking personal name Malti meaning sharp or bitter, with the Norse suffix of "byr," meaning a farm or settlement. Locational surnames are usually "from" names. That is to say that they were surnames of easy identification, granted to people after they left their original villages or even towns and citys, to move somewhere else. Early examples of recordings include Andrew de Malteby, in the Assize Court rolls of Yorkshire in 1219, and William de Maultby in the Hundred Rolls of landowners of Lincolnshire in 1273. A later example taken from the surviving church registers of the city of London is that of William Maltby and Mary Westley were married at St. Mary Aldermary in 1704. Edward Maltby (1770 - 1859) was the bishop of Durham 1836 - 1856. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Robert de Maltebi. This was dated 1169 in the Pipe Rolls of Norfolk, during the reign of King Henry IInd, known as the Builder of Churches, 1154 - 1189. Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation. In England this was sometimes known as Poll Tax. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.

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